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Mr. Williams elaborated that he's seen multiple vaudeville shows before and is well familiar with the material. So much so, that he's comparing us to the likes of "Jackie Gleason, Fanny Brice, Leon Errol, Bert Lahr, W.C. Fields, Red Skelton, Abbott & Costello, Phil Silvers and Bob Hope". Mr. Williams gives no allowances for the fact that A.) those are masters of the artforms, having dedicated their lives to the practice B.) they also had years to develop the skits and sketches that eventually made their way to tv (we had a 5 weeks) and C.) NOBODY IN THE SHOW IS CLAIMING TO BE FUCKING JACKIE GLEASON, RED SKELTON OR FUCKING ABBOT & COSTELLO.
But ah well, Mr. Williams was summarily unable to relax and enjoy himself out for a night at the theater. Quick changes, sharp dancing, actual audience interraction, period appropriate costuming and lightning quick timing were lost on him. I suspect that if he were to actually see Jackie Gleason or Phil Silvers or Bob Hope perform, he'd criticize the carpeting or the hang of the curtains. He is, we can gather, just too jaded, suffering from an overload of vaudeville and burlesque experience, to forgive this poor little theater troupe for not being up to the level of the masters.
Well, luckily for us, the two different audiences that we delighted and amused, around Mr.Williams did not suffer the same insurmountable expectations.
You can read Mr.Williams review, which begins inauspiciously by mispelling "vaudeville", by clicking this link. Or better than that, you can click on this link to the wikipedia entry on vaudeville, which spares us the unkind, direct comparison to the masters of vaudeville.
One more thought, reviews are really only useful for getting the word out about your show or for the selective use of quotes on marketing materials. If I were producing this show and Mr. Williams review was my only review, here are the blurbs that I would pull from it.
"Filled with variety acts including cornball comedy bits including slapstick, wordplay and general clowning together with flirty ‘tease’ dances by the girls!"
"Careful attention was made to mount a pure, 40’s style vaudeville/burlesque show!"
"If you have never seen a pure vaudeville/burlesque show, Piccolo’s “Vaudeville and Vixeens” comes close. Be warned, this is raw sexy humor."
Now, THAT sounds like the kind of show that I would want to see!
FOR THOSE PLAYING ALONG AT HOME, HERE'S THE REVIEW WRAPUP FOR THE SHOW:
www.chicagocritics.com - Somewhat Recommended
I'LL UPDATE THIS LIST, AS MORE REVIEWS COME IN!
(Good or bad!)
4 comments:
"Funny moments!"
"The girls were too sweet!"
Bah, what a putz!
Sounded like it was a great show! :)
Boo. The only proper response to a review (good or bad) is "Thank you".
If someone is selling Maxwell Street Polishes, and I go in and buy one, but it's not as good as other Maxwell Street Polishes I've had, I do not want the chef to say "I guess you should have lowered your expectations."
Yeah I said it.
I was about to slap you around, Greg Inda, for a complete lack of context, and then I figured out that you're jerking my chain (if just a little bit).
The truth is, for a small theater company like this one, reviews can usually only help. We were at 40% sold out before the show even opened. As we get closer to the end of the run, we ARE going to sell out those last two weekends. (I just got an email today, saying that we'd booked a few large groups and that we were at 45% sold out, two days after the initial opening, before a single review had hit the streets.) In short, these tickets are going to sell, no matter what these reviews say.
Sure, Piccolo could pull quotes from the reviews to populate the poster or website and/or they'll be handy if they ever want to remount the show. But they're not going to sell tickets for us. They're largely irrelevant.
But it is interesting to track them and see what people say. Just as they are free to judge my show, I am free to judge their reviews. If the first reviewer said, "This show ain't as good as Jackie Gleason", of course my response is "Duh, dummy. It ain't Gleason. Gleason is dead. You wants the vaudeville, you gotta come to us!" We're currently the only show in town, offering this type of entertainment. (we differ even from the burlesque shows, in that we've got extended comedy scenes that we've polished and rehearsed over 5 weeks to present between numbers.)
As harsh as the first review was, it really doesn't change a thing. Audiences are coming. My costume is being pressed for me. There will be water in the bird whistle and I'll go out there onstage for three more weekends to present the best damned show I can present, with an eye towards entertaining the audience 100%, and no other concerns. No reviewers to impress.
I mentioned the bad review to a co-worker at the theater today and the artistic director happened to be walking by and he said, "And would you believe them more, if they loved you? Bill Norris said that. Think about it." By which he meant that the reviews are irrelevant to the performer. And I get that. My show isn't going to change appreciably for the reviews. (It might change because it's an organic piece and I get to create big chunks of it, each night, if I want to.)
But for the unreviewed improviser, they're an interesting novelty. Of course, I'm going to talk about them.
Cheers,
Mr.B
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